My E-Day Post

August 25th 1971.

One of the greatest rock bands of all time releases one of the greatest rock albums of all time: The Who’s “Who’s Next” gets released in their native UK. The album is especially noteworthy for its penultimate song, a ballad near and dear to the hearts of many political aficionados: “Won’t get fooled again”.

In a twist of irony which shows that yes, the universe does have a sense of humor, 5 days later, a bloated, tired, and out of touch political dynasty in Alberta gets ousted and replaced with a new, vibrant government.

Meet the new boss…

There are many reasons why I’m fed up with the PCs in Alberta; you can take your pick, really.

This is a government that, in what I was sure was an act only possible in George Orwell’s darkest nightmares, spied on its own citizens.

This is a government whose top members were directly involved with the draconian gutting of Alberta’s education and medical programs in the early-mid 1990s. Walk around the province’s hospitals and schools and you’ll see what 15 years of deferred maintenance and neglect means. The Premier can’t even ensure the sterilization of hospital equipment in his own constituency.

Despite this connection, this is a government that has the gall to pretend it had nothing to due with those cuts. Apparently, the PCs don't think much of the intelligence of the average Albertan. Where was "change that works for Albertans" when this province lost a generation of nurses and educators?

This is a government who, when charged with coming up with a solution to one of the most serious threats to the welfare of Albertans, climate change, suggests targets at a point in time where this member of the Young Liberals would be a member of the Liberal Seniors Commission. When challenged about the uselessness of their plan, the Premier’s first response is to invent numbers in an attempt to scare Albertans into voting for him, rather than honour the democratic process by engaging in a debate of ideas. How little do you think of us, Mr. Stelmach? When the farmers of this province start to notice the rapidly shrinking water table, I’m sure they’ll remember who to thank. When your Green Plan makes Steven Harper looking like a granola munching, Birkenstock wearing, bongo-playing treehugger, something is very, very wrong.

This is a government that thinks there is really nothing wrong with a returning officer being: A former EA to a candidate seeking reelection in their constituency, a political donor to the premier running for reelection in that constituency, or a failed candidate for that party’s nomination in that constituency. Our government works because our ROs are supposed to be the guardians of our democracy, and our democratic institutions are supposed to be beyond reproach. The smallest sense of potential impropriety calls in to question the legitimacy of our governments, but apparently there is nothing wrong with that.

This is a government that, when charged with repairing the damage done to Alberta’s post-secondary institutions in order to create a knowledge-based economy that can outlast our oil boom, failed to come up with any new ideas at all that address the quality, accessibility, or affordability of education in this province. This is a government that failed so completely at addressing the issue, that they were unable to elicit applause from a partisan audience when it announced this very policy.

This is a government that thinks, as the province is posting $4.2 Billion surpluses, combating homelessness in 10 years, and eliminating health care premiums in 4 is “ambitious”.

This is a government that knowingly let $1 Billion in royalties go uncollected for the past 3 years. This is money that could have gone to education, to health care, to seniors services, to infrastructure. Albertan taxpayers were robbed.

This is a government that, despite having the ability to call the election whenever it was ready, has been dogged by criticism the entire way: Mothers denouncing daycare policy, Doctors panning health care agendas. This is a government that has no fresh ideas.

Those are just the issues that irked me the most, I’m sure many of you have your own bones to pick with the incumbent party. I said earlier that the terms “realistic and achievable” seem to be Tory code words for “unimaginative, ineffective, and useless”. I don’t put much stock into personality politics, but the one thing I ask of my political leaders is that they be able to dream. Dream of a better Alberta. Push the limits of what’s possible. To quote another dreamer, do things “not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. I’ve found out that when you level with Albertans, when you give us challenges instead of attempting to scare us away with imaginary numbers, there’s no limit to what we can accomplish. Mr. Stelmach, despite having every advantage awarded to a party in power for 37 years, you have shown yourself over these past 28 days to be someone totally incapable of imagining what this province can achieve.

I’m not going to make any predictions for tomorrow. Since I’ve been involved with the campaign, any prediction I would make would be tainted by my own experiences, and my own convictions about the strength of our platform over that of our competitors. If you read between the lines of all the polls and the headlines over the past few weeks, one thing remains clear: no one knows what will happen tomorrow night. If you want to know what constituencies to watch, head on over to daveberta – he sums it up well.

My last bit of advice to any of you who have taken to reading my blog over the past few days is this:

Voting is almost a sacred act between citizens and their government. Don’t vote for someone because you’ve always voted that way. Don’t vote for someone who gives passionate (but factually empty) speeches. Don’t vote for someone because your friends, your family, or your coworkers vote for them. Vote for ideas. If you're reading this, you obviously have access to the internet, and as such, the platforms of the political parties. Vote for someone who shares your dream of what this province can achieve.

But above all, vote.